While quantitative studies on the correlatives of unemployment abound, we possess far too little qualitative data on the day by day lives of unemployed people, and particularly long term (more than 27 weeks) unemployed people. The present exploration is aimed at looking closely at the effect of unemployment on individuals and their families. Our objective is to systematically record, over a three year period, the social psychological effects of unemployment. We also will be exploring the ways in which the unemployed and their families cope with the problem of unemployment. The method of investigation will consist of intensive interviewing and observation over three years. Approximately 100 families will be recruited. They will represent the major groups of long term unemployed, notably the poor and working classes. In addition, we will study elderly people, people as young as 14, and families from the middle and upper middle classes. The material generated from the interviews will be analyzed in social psychological terms with the purpose of making generalizations about the relationships between economic factors of unemployment, on the one hand, and social psychological aspects of individual family and community behavior, on the other. Ideally, the research will shed light on the intervening variables and processes that constitute the transition from having a job to becoming unemployed.